The History of British India
Encyclopedia
The History of British India is a history of British India by the 19th century British
philosopher and imperial political theorist James Mill
.
This History went into many editions and during the 19th century became the standard reference work on its subject among British imperialists.
and Joseph Hume
, to Mill's appointment in 1819 as assistant (later chief) examiner of correspondence at the imperial East India Company
at an annual salary of £
800. By 1836, when he died, this income had become £2,000.
Mill's biographer Bruce Mazlish takes a practical view of Mill's purpose in beginning the History, stating
in which James set out to attack the history
, character, religion
, literature
, arts
, and laws of India
, also making claims about the influence of the
Indian climate
. He also aimed to locate the attacks on India within a wider theoretical framework.
The book begins with a preface
in which Mill tries to make a virtue of having never visited India and of knowing none of its native languages
. To him, these are guarantees of his objectivity, and he boldly claims –
However, Mill goes on in this preface to say that his work is a "critical, or judging history", encompassing singularly harsh attacks on Hindu
customs and a "backward" culture which he claims to be notable only for superstition, ignorance, and the mistreatment of women.
From the historical perspective, Mill tells the story of the English and, later, British acquisition of
wide territories in India
, severely criticizing those involved in these conquests and in the later administration of the conquered territories, as well as illuminating the harmful effects of commercial monopolies
such as that of the imperial East India Company
. As a philosopher, Mill applies political theory to the description of the civilizations of India. His interest is in institutions, ideas, and historical processes, while his work is relatively lacking in human interest, in that he does not seek to paint memorable portraits of Robert Clive, Warren Hastings
, and the other leading players in the history of British India, nor of its famous battles. Indeed, the History has been called "...a work of Benthamite
'philosophical history' from which the reader is supposed to draw lessons about human nature, reason and religion".
Despite the fact that Mill had never been to India, his work had a profound effect on the British imperial system of governing the country, as did his later official connection with India.
The Orientalist Horace Hayman Wilson
edited later editions and extended the history to 1835 with a continuation entitled The History of British India from 1805 to 1835. He also added notes to Mill's work, based on his own knowledge of India and its languages. The History of British India is still in print.
In his introduction to Ungoverned Imaginings: James Mill's The History of British India and Orientalism, Javed Majeed argues against "colonialist discourse" approaches to Mill's History, while in his forthcoming James Mill and the Despotism of Philosophy (2009), David McInerney considers how Mill's History of British India relates to Enlightenment
historiography
, and especially William Robertson
's Historical Disquisition Concerning the Knowledge the Ancients had of India. He argues that Mill first published his theory of government in The History of British India, and that in the work Mill's use of history is not rationalist
but entails an empirical
conception of how historical records relate to the improvement of government.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
philosopher and imperial political theorist James Mill
James Mill
James Mill was a Scottish historian, economist, political theorist, and philosopher. He was a founder of classical economics, together with David Ricardo, and the father of influential philosopher of classical liberalism, John Stuart Mill.-Life:Mill was born at Northwater Bridge, in the parish of...
.
This History went into many editions and during the 19th century became the standard reference work on its subject among British imperialists.
Genesis
James Mill began his History of British India in 1806, expecting it to take him about three years, but its completion proved to take instead twelve years, with three substantial volumes at last being published early in 1818. The work was immediately successful among British imperialists and secured for Mill for the first time a degree of prosperity. It led, with the support of David RicardoDavid Ricardo
David Ricardo was an English political economist, often credited with systematising economics, and was one of the most influential of the classical economists, along with Thomas Malthus, Adam Smith, and John Stuart Mill. He was also a member of Parliament, businessman, financier and speculator,...
and Joseph Hume
Joseph Hume
Joseph Hume FRS was a Scottish doctor and Radical MP, born in Montrose, Angus.-Medical career:He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and moved to India in 1797...
, to Mill's appointment in 1819 as assistant (later chief) examiner of correspondence at the imperial East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
at an annual salary of £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
800. By 1836, when he died, this income had become £2,000.
Mill's biographer Bruce Mazlish takes a practical view of Mill's purpose in beginning the History, stating
Outline
The History of British India purports to be a study of IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in which James set out to attack the history
History of India
The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from...
, character, religion
Religion in India
Indian religions is a classification for religions that originated in the Indian subcontinent; namely Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. These religions are also classified as Eastern religions...
, literature
Indian literature
Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Republic of India has 22 officially recognized languages....
, arts
Indian art
Indian Art is the visual art produced on the Indian subcontinent from about the 3rd millennium BC to modern times. To viewers schooled in the Western tradition, Indian art may seem overly ornate and sensuous; appreciation of its refinement comes only gradually, as a rule. Voluptuous feeling is...
, and laws of India
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
, also making claims about the influence of the
Indian climate
Climate of India
Analyzed according to the Köppen system, the climate of India resolves into six major climatic subtypes; their influences give rise to desert in the west, alpine tundra and glaciers in the north, humid tropical regions supporting rain forests in the southwest, and Indian Ocean island territories...
. He also aimed to locate the attacks on India within a wider theoretical framework.
The book begins with a preface
Preface
A preface is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a foreword and precedes an author's preface...
in which Mill tries to make a virtue of having never visited India and of knowing none of its native languages
Languages of India
The languages of India belong to several language families, the major ones being the Indo-European languages—Indo-Aryan and the Dravidian languages...
. To him, these are guarantees of his objectivity, and he boldly claims –
However, Mill goes on in this preface to say that his work is a "critical, or judging history", encompassing singularly harsh attacks on Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
customs and a "backward" culture which he claims to be notable only for superstition, ignorance, and the mistreatment of women.
From the historical perspective, Mill tells the story of the English and, later, British acquisition of
wide territories in India
Company rule in India
Company rule in India refers to the rule or dominion of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent...
, severely criticizing those involved in these conquests and in the later administration of the conquered territories, as well as illuminating the harmful effects of commercial monopolies
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
such as that of the imperial East India Company
East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
. As a philosopher, Mill applies political theory to the description of the civilizations of India. His interest is in institutions, ideas, and historical processes, while his work is relatively lacking in human interest, in that he does not seek to paint memorable portraits of Robert Clive, Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings PC was the first Governor-General of India, from 1773 to 1785. He was famously accused of corruption in an impeachment in 1787, but was acquitted in 1795. He was made a Privy Councillor in 1814.-Early life:...
, and the other leading players in the history of British India, nor of its famous battles. Indeed, the History has been called "...a work of Benthamite
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism...
'philosophical history' from which the reader is supposed to draw lessons about human nature, reason and religion".
Despite the fact that Mill had never been to India, his work had a profound effect on the British imperial system of governing the country, as did his later official connection with India.
The Orientalist Horace Hayman Wilson
Horace Hayman Wilson
Horace Hayman Wilson was an English orientalist.He studied medicine at St Thomas's Hospital, and went out to India in 1808 as assistant-surgeon on the Bengal establishment of the British East India Company....
edited later editions and extended the history to 1835 with a continuation entitled The History of British India from 1805 to 1835. He also added notes to Mill's work, based on his own knowledge of India and its languages. The History of British India is still in print.
In his introduction to Ungoverned Imaginings: James Mill's The History of British India and Orientalism, Javed Majeed argues against "colonialist discourse" approaches to Mill's History, while in his forthcoming James Mill and the Despotism of Philosophy (2009), David McInerney considers how Mill's History of British India relates to Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
, and especially William Robertson
William Robertson (historian)
William Robertson FRSE FSA was a Scottish historian, minister of religion, and Principal of the University of Edinburgh...
's Historical Disquisition Concerning the Knowledge the Ancients had of India. He argues that Mill first published his theory of government in The History of British India, and that in the work Mill's use of history is not rationalist
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
but entails an empirical
Empiricism
Empiricism is a theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience. One of several views of epistemology, the study of human knowledge, along with rationalism, idealism and historicism, empiricism emphasizes the role of experience and evidence,...
conception of how historical records relate to the improvement of government.
Published editions
- The History of British India (London: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, first edition, 1818)
- The History of British India (London: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, second edition, 1820)
- The History of British India (London: Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, third edition, 6 volumes, 1826)
- The History of British India (London: James Madden, fourth edition, ed. by Horace Hayman Wilson, 10 volumes, 1848)
- The History of British India (London: James Madden, fifth edition, ed. by Horace Hayman Wilson, 10 volumes, 1858)
- The History of British India, reprint in three volumes, (Associated Publishing House, ISBN 978-1122817837)
- James Mill's History of British India (London: Taylor & Francis / Routledge, 10 volumes including Horace Hayman Wilson's continuation to 1835; 1997, ISBN 978-0415153829)
Online editions
- The History of British India (1826 edition) online at libertyfund.org
- The History of British India (1848 edition, ed. by Horace Hayman Wilson) online at books.google.com
- The History of British India (1858 edition, ed. by Horace Hayman Wilson) online at books.google.com
Secondary literature
- Majeed, Javed, Ungoverned Imaginings: James Mill's the History of British India and Orientalism (Oxford: University of California Press, 1992, 225 pp.)
- Yasukawa, Ryuji, 'James Mill's The History of British India Reconsidered', in Journal of the Tokyo College of Economics vol. 203 (1997) pp. 65–88
- McInerney, David, James Mill and the Despotism of Philosophy: Reading 'The History of British India' (London: Routledge, to be published 2009, ISBN 978-0415956123)
- Harrington, Jack, Sir John Malcolm and the Creation of British India (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), chs. 2 & 6.